Javor Gardev is a theatre and film director, born in Sofia in 1972.
He graduated from the National Lyceum for Ancient Languages and Cultures “St. Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher” (1991). He holds an MA in Philosophy from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski (1997), an MA in Directing from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts “Krastyo Sarafov” in the experimental directing class of Prof. Ivan Dobchev (1998), and a PhD from the New Bulgarian University (2024) with an interdisciplinary dissertation in the fields of philosophy of language, social sciences, and theatre studies. He has also specialized and received additional qualifications from various cultural institutions and organizations in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
He is a recipient of the Fulbright award (2021), through which he conducted interdisciplinary research as a visiting scholar at the School of Communication at Northwestern University, Evanston Campus, USA.
Javor Gardev is an Associate Professor at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts “Krastyo Sarafov” in Sofia. He has conducted numerous masterclasses and lectures in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, and the United States.
At the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, Javor Gardev made his debut in 2000 with the production Verona by Alexei Shipenko. In 2006, he staged the large-scale production of King Lear by William Shakespeare on the Main Stage, starring Naum Shopov in the leading role. In 2009, he directed The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? by Edward Albee, who personally attended the premiere and endorsed the production.
In 2011, Gardev staged A Behanding in Spokane by Martin McDonagh, followed in 2012 by The Moth by Pyotr Gladilin and Hamlet with a remarkable cast and a large-scale spatial concept. In 2014, on the Chamber Stage of the National Theatre, he directed Joan by Yaroslava Pulinovich, and in 2018 – The Observers (A Hypothesis About Hereafter) by Konstantin Iliev.
Javor Gardev joined the directors collegium of the National Theatre in 2022, when he staged Easter Wine by Konstantin Iliev. In 2024 came the premiere of his third major Shakespearean project on the Main Stage – The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare.
Currently, Javor Gardev is working on the international project Bacchae by Euripides, a co-production between the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, the Athens Epidaurus Festival, and the State Theatre of Northern Greece in Thessaloniki. The premiere of this project, featuring the live participation of the British rock band The Tiger Lillies, will take place on July 10 and 11, 2026, in one of the oldest theatres in the world – the ancient amphitheatre of Epidaurus.
Prior to joining the National Theatre, Gardev’s directing career developed through collaborations with numerous Bulgarian and international theatres and festivals, both as a freelance director and as a resident director with the companies of Theatre Laboratory Sfumato in Sofia and the Stoyan Bachvarov State Theatre in Varna.
As a director, Javor Gardev has created more than fifty theatre productions, some of them international co-productions with theatres and festivals in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. He has staged theatre productions in Greece, Turkey, North Macedonia, Russia, and Montenegro. He is a member of the European Shakespeare Research Association (ESRA).
Javor Gardev has received numerous theatre awards, including three ASKEER Awards for Best Director and five ASKEER Awards for Best Production, as well as five IKAR Awards for Best Director and three IKAR Awards for Best Production. He is also the recipient of the awards “Bulgarian Ambassador of Culture,” “Golden Age,” “Golden Kukerikon,” “Golden Harlequin,” “Golden Mask,” “Golden Feather,” and the “Theatre Personality of the Year” award from the Society of Independent Theatre Critics, among others.
Gardev made his feature film directing debut with the full-length motion picture Zift (2008), which was selected for fifty-four film festivals and won nineteen national and international awards, including the Golden Rose for Best Film, the Golden Chest for Best Director and Best Film, and the Silver St. George for Best Director at the Moscow International Film Festival. The film became Bulgaria’s submission for the Academy Awards and was included in the selections and streaming catalogues of IFC, Sundance Channel, Netflix, and HBO Max, as well as in the official selection for the European Film Awards. Until 2009, Zift held the record as the highest-grossing Bulgarian feature film in two decades. Since 2009, Javor Gardev has been a member of the European Film Academy.
Javor Gardev is also the director of radio theatre projects and the author of conceptual and performances, among which stand out the video installation Visual Police (2005), as well as the radio projects of The Bulgarian National Radio created in collaboration with Asen Avramov and Georgi Tenev: The Citadel (2000) and The Atoll (1999). The latter received the “Grand Prix Europe” (1999) for Best European Radio Drama in Berlin.
Gardev’s interdisciplinary research work Power, Sovereignty, and Directing / Essays on Performative Force, Interpretive Freedom and Creative Autonomy was published in 2025 in a bilingual Bulgarian-English edition.
In the upcoming season at the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, audiences can see the following productions directed by Javor Gardev: The Merchant of Venice, The Observers (A Hypothesis About Hereafter), Easter Wine, and Bacchae.
